Implantable medical devices (IMDS) for monitoring a physiological condition or delivering a therapy typically rely on one or more sensors positioned in a patient's blood vessel, heart chamber, or other portion of the body. Examples of such medical devices include heart monitors, pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), myostimulators, nerve stimulators, drug delivery devices, subcutaneous defibrillators, and other IMDs where such sensors are desirable. Implantable sensors used in conjunction with an IMD generally provide a signal related to a physiological condition from which a patient condition or the need for a therapy can be assessed.
Measurement of blood oxygen saturation levels are of interest in determining the metabolic state of the patient. Generally, a decrease in blood oxygen saturation is associated with an increase in physical activity or may reflect insufficient cardiac output or respiratory activity. Thus monitoring blood oxygen saturation allows an implantable medical device to respond to a decrease in oxygen saturation, for example by pacing the heart at a higher rate. An implantable oxygen sensor for use with an implantable medical device is generally disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,952 issued to Miesel, hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Cardiac pacemakers that respond to changes in blood oxygen saturation as measured by an optical sensor are generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,339 issued to Wirtzfeld and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,807 issued to Bornzin.
Practical applications for optical hemodynamic sensors, however, have been limited because such sensors are highly susceptible to motion; that is, movement by the patient or of the sensor tends to introduce significant noise onto an output signal of the sensor.